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IMMOETALITT 



INHERENT IN NATURE. 



BT ^ 

WARREN SUMNER BARLOW, 

Author of " The Voices," and other Poems. 



One chain of causes and effects 
Encircles Nature's vast domain ; 

One universal voice proclaims 
All Is, and ever will remain. 

See Canto 5th, 6tJi Verse. 



'All are but parts of one stupendous wtiole 
Wliose body Nature is, and God the soul." 

—Pope. 



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NEW YORK: 

FOWLEE & WELLS CO., 

753 Broadway. 

1885. 



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COPYKIGHT BT 

WAEKEN SDMNEK BAELOW, 
1885. 



TH0W9 

PRrNTINQ AND QOOKBINDINQ COMPANV, 

NSW YORK. 



To those who doubt immortal life, 
And feed upon the husks of fate ; 

Who dare not trust their fondest hopes, 
These lines in love we dedicate. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

" God is All in All," 7 

CANTO I. 

The Soukce op Thought is Eternal, ... 12 

CANTO n. 
All Effects are Eternal, 17 

CANTO ni. 
Foreokdination in Harmony with Free Agency, . 20 

CANTO IV. 
Design versus Chance, 29 

CANTO V. 
Hope of the Soul, 37 



IMMORTALITY, 



- "GOD IS ALL IN ALL." 

Eternal Father — Life Divine, 
Thou boundless Evermore ; 

O teach this feeble erring soul 
Thy goodness to adore. 

Thy watchful care with unseen hands 
Moulds and directs the whole, 

"While universal order reigns 
By Thy divine control. 



IMMORTALITY. 

The music of the rolling spheres, 

Attuned and held by Thee, 
Forever thrills the universe 

With silent harmony. 

Unnumbered families of worlds 

Their yearly circuits run, 
While borne upon the wings of light 

Around their parent sun. 

Athwart the heaven's etherial dome. 

Where angel feet have trod, 
The panorama brings to light 

The alphabet of God. 

All Nature speaks with countless tongues 
The language of each sphere, 

Whose voice of harmony is heard 
By every list'ning ear. 



GOD IS ALL IN ALL. 

And though we fail to comprehend 

The earth's minutest grains, 
The central heart of N'ature lives 

And flows in all their veins. 

O who can fathom E"ature's depths, 
Or trace her trackless rounds. 

Whose secret seals their vigils keep, 
Unknown by lines or bounds ? 

A fraction of Infinitude 

If measured or defined, 
Would circumscribe the boundless realms 

Of the Eternal Mind. 

All central^ no circumference^ 

If Nature hath no bounds ; 
She neither can be tnore^ nor less^ 

In her unending rounds. 



10 IMMOETALITY. 

Thus with Infinitude of life^ 
Whose life " is all in all ; " 

If death annihilates a part, 
Omnipotence may fall. 

But God — the universal Life — 

His life to all secures, 
Which must extend to all extent, 

While God Himself endures. 

His boundless being binds the whole. 
That all. His life may share ; 

Encircled in His arms of love. 
All feel His tender care. 

One life embodied in all forms ; 

One limitless control ; 
One chain of many golden links, 

Unites and binds the whole. 



GOD IS ALL IIST ALL. 11 

One universal law of love 

Is seen in all we trace ; 
One vast Infinitude is held 

By God's divine embrace. 

O Thou unknown, yet known to all ; 

Tliough found, art ever sought ; 
"We feel Thou art the central source 

Of Being, Life, and Thought ! 



CANTO I. 

THE SOURCE OF THOUGHT IS ETERNAL. 

Think not that conscious sonls will sleep 
Forever in a dreamless night ; 

While matter gross forever lives, 

And moves in pleasant paths of light. 

As rivers, with resistless force. 

All carve their pathway to the sea ; 

So restless man forever yearns 
For blissful immortality. 



THE SOUECE OF THOUGHT IS ETEENAL. 13 

Unlike the rivers ocean bound. 
Which mingle in the rolling strife, 

The souls that flood the stream of time, 
Forever crave a conscious life. 



The aspirations of the soul 

Are living germs that will mature ; 
And fondest hopes are promises 

Of golden fruitage, made secure. 

The rocks that held all forms of life, 

In their primeval solitude, 
Have clothed the earth in rich attire, 

In every zone and longitude. 

Their massive brows, long turned to dust. 
Display their type on nature's page ; 

Whose precious gems, unscathed by time, 
Outlive all forms from age to age. 



14 IMMOETALITY. 

The diamond, with its ejes of fire, 
Beholds its kindred forms decay ; 

In youthful vigor, undefiled. 

It lives while ages wend their way. 

Then must the germs of life and thought 
Commingle with a senseless clod, 

While inborn Hope for endless years 
Is thus a counterpart of God ? 

If transient rocks contain a gem 

That lives while forms that held it fall, 

May not our throbbing heart-strings hold 
A prize more precious far than all ? 

If conscious memory outlives 

Each mortal form, of seven years span. 
And holds the record of them all, 

"Why not survive the age of man ? 



THE SOURCE OF THOUGHT IS ETERNAL. 15 

The answer lives in every soul, 

Responsive to our heart's desires, 
For on Love's altar Hope was born. 

And kindled her eternal fires. 

Can being doubt its end and aim, 

Whose thoughts have lived from age to age. 
And will survive the flight of time, 

On memory's immortal page ? 

Can thus a feeble, fleeting soul — 
The short-lived tenant of the earth. 

With hopes like bubbles, soon to burst, 
To an immortal thought give birth ? 

If thus Effect outweighs its Cause, 

The " Great First Cause," in dread alarm, 

Beholding now His waning power, 
May yield His weak and palsied arm. 



16 IMMORTALITY. 

If Cause doth not survive Effect, 
Or bows submissive to its call, 

All thought and substance, left to chance, 
To chaos soon must fade and fall. 

When Time turns back his dial-plate, 
And Nature countermands her laws, 

And Darkness craves the beams of light, 
Effects may triumph over Cause. 

Till then, the source of thought will live, 
And still retain its life divine, 

Where age adorns immortal youth. 
As conscious souls more bi'ightly shine. 

A trio of eternities, 

The present, future, and the past. 
Will bear us on their central waves. 

And doubly crown our hopes at last ! 



CANTO n. 

ALL EFFECTS ARE ETERNAL. 

Cause proclaims its changeless purpose 

In the language of Effects, 
Universal and eternal, 

Which the universe reflects. 

Interwoven through the ages. 

All Effects must ever last ; 
Hold the present, shape the future, 

Crown with glory all the past. 



18 IMMORTALITY. 

From all star-lit constellations, 
To the mote which naught detects, 

All, except the Cause of Causes, 
Lives forever in Effects. 

Then, must conscious life and being 
Languish on the verge of thought, 

Strangle every aspiration, 
And forever come to naught ? 

Must the soul, that crowns creation — 
Essence of immortal truth — 

Grand Effect above all others, 
ISTot survive its wayward youth ? 

"When unending space is bounded. 
And all systems come to naught. 

And eternity no longer 

Bears the record of a thought, 



ALL EFFECTS AKE ETEKNAL. 19 

Then Effect, devoid of being, 

Cause may nevermore rehearse 
The Eternal Power and "Wisdom 

That ordained the universe. 

But Effect will ride forever 

In the chariot of Cause 
Driven by inherent forces, 

Guided by unerring laws. 

Cradled in the mist of ages. 

Borne upon the breath of time, 
Man will reach, through love and wisdom, 

An immortal height sublime. 



CANTO III. 

FOREORDINATION IN HARMONY WITH FREE AGENCY- 

To doubt Effect, we question God, 

Witli all his attributes divine, 
"Whose rays of wisdom, truth and love, 

On all his works forever shine. 

Cause must determine all Effects, 
And Love obeys its wise behest ; 

Then, as the " Great First Cause " directs. 
All are, and ever will be, blest. 



FOEEOEDINATION WITH FREE AGENCY. 21 

Free Agency and Sovereignty 

Are partners in a common cause, 
To elevate immortal man, 

Through knowledge of unchanging laws. 

But every soul is free to act, 

Within the circuit of its sphere / 
Where all, in Nature's ample school, 

Will learn God's purpose to revere. 

And man alone of all the tribes 

That tread the earth, or beat the air, 

Is born with freedom's armor on. 
And must life's conflicts ever share. 

His sphere of freedom, though defined 

By walls that limit self-control, 
Will widen and extend its bounds. 

As wisdom doth expand the soul. 



22 IMMORTALITY. 

But for the tribes helow mankind, 
Instinctive wisdom holds the reins, 

And safely guides and governs all. 

By laws that bind them with its chains. 

The countless beasts that roam the fields, 
And quench their thirst from laughing rills, 

Select from earth's extended plains, 
The food their nature best distills. 

The birds are made to build their nests, 

The first as perfect as the last ; 
To swell their breasts with cheerful song, 

The changeless song of ages past. 

The bee invites us to behold 

The w^onders of its matchless skill ; 

Xo hand can mould its waxen cups. 
Much less from flow'ry petals fill. 



FOEEOKDINATION WITH FREE AGENCY. 23 

The spider spins and weaves its web, 

Each strand with ahnost countless threads, 

"Whose lines by genius are defined. 
On which it mounts and safely treads. 

The ant a lesson gives to all. 

Of patience, industry, and care ; 
The insects of the vasty deep, 

Tliat plant the coral mountains there, 

Proclaim, with all the instinct tribes, 
In language man may understand. 

That wise design pervades the whole — 
That power divine is in command. 

Thus all these tribes are wisely led 
By hands unseen the world around, 

No path diverging turns their course, 
No bar to intercept is found. 



24 IMMOETALITY. 

Like plants and trees, they come and go, 
Like grass and flowers, they fade and die, 

Yet leave their problems still unsolved, 
"Which none can fathom or deny. 

But man at birth is vt^eak and frail — 
A helpless, thankless, hopeless soul, 

Yet reason holds a gift divine — 

The power to rise, through self-control. 

Though far more helpless than the brute, 
He holds within his baby hand 

The golden keys that will unlock 
The choicest treasures of the land. 

Thus man alone, of all the earth. 
By God endowed is thus made free ; 

That through the endless rounds of life, 
He may himself^ forever be. 



FOEEOKDINATION WITH FEEE AGENCY. 25 

Forever learning, yet unlearned ; 

Forever rising, still to rise ; 
Forever living, still to live 

Where naught but pain and sorrow dies. 

This power of choice, bequeathed to man 

By God's immutable decree, 
As part of His revokeless plan, 

Is lasting as eternity. 

To limit freedom to this life, 

Eternal problems to rehearse, 
Then chain us to the wheels of fate. 

And march us through the universe. 

Revokes the purposes of God, 

And limits law to time and place ; 

Forever bars the doors of hope, 
And ends the progress of the race. 



26 IMMOETALITY. 

Progression is our end and aim, 
Revokeless as the days and years ; 

Unlimited by wisdom's ways, 
Eternal as the rolling spheres. 

In this progressive school, the sonl 
In search of happiness, will learn 

In time, or in eternity. 

To choose the right, the wrong to spm-n. 

The penalties that lie in wait 

For all who ever go astray 
Are danger-signals in our path. 

To turn us from the downward way, ' 

Until our dormant souls arouse. 
By Love's divine, chastising hand ; 

Imparting lessons all must heed, 
And cannot fail to understand. 



FOREOEDIlSrATION WITH FREE AGENCY. 27 

But Love invites ns to explore 
The beauties of her chosen way ; 

"Where all, by "Wisdom's holy light, 
Will learn her precepts to obey. 

The restless freedom of the soul, 
Though shores define its inland sea, 

Will span the narrow bounds of time, 
To oceans of eternity. 

Free Agency and Sovereignty, 
So nurture and direct the mind, 

That knowledge, through experience, 
Will crown with glory all mankind. 

Thus all will rise by force of will — 
Free agent of our dormant powers ; 

Inspired by Courage, led by Hope, 

It guides us through our darkest hours. 



28 IMMORTALITY. 

Until, triumphant, every soul 

Will harmonize with Nature's laws — 

The standard of the universe ; 
Whose author, is the " Great First Cause." 

O Source of wisdom, truth, and love, 
Teach us Thy precepts to obey, 

That we may not retard our flight 
By errors that beset the way. 



CANTO lY. 

DESIGN VERSUS CHANCR 

Design — primordial of law — 

The universal foe to chance — 
The thought, that moulds and guides the whole, 

Is fashioned by omnipotence. 

Unnumbered voices all proclaim, 

Through "Wisdom, Truth, and Love Divine, 

That restless, tireless, endless spheres. 
Are all propelled through wise design, 



30 IMMOETALITY. 

Design, must have a primal source, 
As all effects must follow cause ; 

And he who doubts these golden rules. 
Must question well-established laws. 

Our mortal forms inwrought with care, 
Each part adapted to the whole. 

Dispel the very dreams of Chance, 
And glorify divine control. 

But should disease and early death 
Extend their cold, relentless hands. 

And leave us lonely in our grief, 
By breaking love's unsullied bands. 

We might in sorrow, grief and pain 
Almost disown the power supreme. 

And, with a vague, bewildered sense, 
Behold in all an empty dream. 



DESIGN" VEESUS CHANCE. 31 

But if our vision could expand, 

And view tlie breadth of Nature's rule, 

"We might conclude too oft we were 
Eebellious pupils from her school. 

All pain or death, not crowned with age, 

Are accidents in life's career — 
Are shoals adown the stream of time, 

Which all avoid who safely steer. 

To entertain unholy thoughts 

And clothe them with their kindred deeds, 
We crush the budding flowers of hope, 

And cultivate pernicious weeds. 

. Immutable are Nature's laws, 

Regardless of our weal or woe, 
And though we scatter tares or wheat, 
" We must all gather what we sow." 



33 IMMOETALITY. 

Thus Justice poises every deed, 

Though men, or nations, rise or fall, 

And Time will vindicate the truth 
That love divine is all in all. 

If naught creates, controls, presides, 
The being, end, and aim of man 

Are but the vague behests of Chance, 
Devoid of purpose, thought or plan. 

And ITature, with reluctant hands, 
Her treasures undirected yields ; 

"While Hope invites us to regale 
On barren and forbidden fields. 

If Law were severed from Design, 
Chaotic worlds, in wild affright, 

Would dim the battlements of time. 
And shroud infinitude with night. 



DESIGN VERSUS CHANCE. 33 

I fain, with homely reverie, 

Would, by a simple thought, explain 

That which my oft-bewildered pen 
May here disguise in its refrain. 

Were billiards played without design, 

Its balls by law, through Chance would roll, 

Such heedless Chance, in vague command, 
Would send confusion through the whole. 

But let Design enforce the law. 

As skilful hands direct the play. 
And law, no longer ruled by Chance, 

No ball need ever go astray. 

Thus Nature heeds the silent power, 

That through infinitude abounds. 
Where wise Design controls the law 

That swings all systems in their rounds. 



34 IMMOKTALITY. 

Through trackless paths their measured flight 

Is guided by unerring skill ; 
As moments counted will define 

The time and place that each must fill ; 

While weary thought without a poise, 
To take the burden from her wings, 

In search of chaos, Chance, or bounds. 
Returning message never brings. 

Through Nature's vast unsolved domain. 
The crowning purpose of the whole. 

The life, for which all else was made, 
Is centred in the human soul. 

Design — the central source of power — 
The thought that fashions every plan — 

The crowning jewel of the soul, 
Is only found in God, and man. 



DESIGN VERSUS CHANCE. 36 

Design hath bridged from shore to shore 

The dark veiled chasm of despair, 
On which immortal life hath reared 

Her temple so divinely fair. 

Though nurtured in the dusty garb 
Of time's unsought, unsolved career. 

Yet, with Jehovah's Fatherhood, 

"Why. grope in darkness, doubt, and fear ? 

As this our sun gave birth to worlds, 
From which our system was set free, 

All fashioned from his elements. 
Eternal in their entity ; 

So hath the central Source of thought, 

From all its attributes divine, 
Bequeathed immortal life to man. 

To crown with glory all Design. 



36 IMMORTALITY. 

O wlio can comprehend the power 
That poises systems in their flight, 

That holds creation in its hands, 
And floods the nniverse with light ? 

Yet all this wond'rons power is Love, 
Portrayed in one stupendons plan, 

In one expression, all expressed — 
Eternal happiness for man. 

O Father, in whose love we live, 
AVhose life in all is love divine, 

We would obey Thy holy will, 
And glorify Thy wise design. 



CAI^TO V. 



HOPE OF THE SOUL. 



Sweet Hope, thy star will yet adorn 
The zenith of a cloudless sky, 

Whose bright effulgence never wanes, 
Whose aspirations never die. 

Eternal progress rends the vail, 
And gives to Reason ample scope. 

Whose massive brow, and measured step. 
Is ballast to the wings of Hope. 



38 ' * IMMOETALITY. 

Each soul a finite god will rise 

Majestic in its entity ; 
Maturing by its inborn strength, 

Coeval with Eternity. 

Shall forms of dust that clothe the soul 
Outlive a thought that moves the world, 

That times the circuit of the spheres 
Which through infinitude are whirled ? 

Nay, man, thy noble end and aim 
Are not disarmed by feeble dust ; 

Then give Inspiring Hope her wings, 
For while God lives, in Him we must. 

One chain of Causes and Effects 
Encircles Nature's vast domain ; 

One universal voice proclaims, 
All is^ and ever loill remain ! 



"THE VOICES," 
BY WAEKEN SUMNER BARLOW. 

This work of nearly 300 pages (price $1.00) has now 
reached its eleventh edition. 

TESTIMONIALS. 

From the many critical notices and reviews of "The 
Voices," we have only room for a few brief extracts : 

Judge Baker, of New York, in liis elaborate review of " The 
Voices," says : " Considered in the light of a controversial or 
didactic poem, it is without an equal in contemporaneous litera- 
ture — the birth of an audacious mind, and is destined to excite 
greater and more wide-encircling waves of sectarian agitation 
than any anti-credal work ever published." 

Professor S. B. Brittan, in his able review of the work, says : 
" In ' The Voice of Nature ' the author gives us a clearer insight 
into his own views of the material world, of human nature and 



40 TESTIMONIALS. 

God. He has a rational pliilosophy of the relations of mind 
and matter, and his theology is at once natural and charitable. 
He recognizes one God everywhere, present alike in the physical 
world and in His moral universe. The God he adores, and his 
strong faith in the goodness that rules the world, are clearly re- 
vealed and forcibly expressed in the following paraphrastic and 
poetical rendering of a beautiful passage in the Sermon on the 
Mount : 

" Will He who hears the ravens when they cry, 
Mock and deride thee when no hope is nigh ? 
Will he who clothes the lilies of the field, 
That neither toil, nor spin, nor raiment yield ; 
Who feeds the fowls that never reap nor sow — 
Extends His watchful care where'er they go ; 
Will He who clothes the grass which is to-day. 
While all its beauty quickly fades away. 
Forget His image — His immortal child ? 
Is he alone derided and defiled, 
Or left to tread the downward thoroughfare. 
With Satan to bewilder and ensnare. 
And urge him on to death and dark despair ? 
' O, ye of little faith,' let reason sway : 
Are not your souls more precious far than they ? " 

William H. Burleigh, a well-known author and poet, in one of 
his contributions to the Chicago Evening Post, thus speaks of the 
atithor, and "The Voices: " "That he is a bold, earnest man, 
with very pronounced opinions, that he has a combative and in- 
cisive way of stating those opinions, and that, below all seeming 
antagonism to the letter of old creeds, he accepts the spirit of the 
new dispensation, his book furnishes abundant evidence. His 
verse is generally characterized by vigor, and at times glides with 
a true rhythmic flow, and rings with a genuine poetic harmony." 





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